Woodentop (The Bill)

"Woodentop" is an episode of the Thames Television series Storyboard, which includes a series of one-off plays on different themes. The episode was originally broadcast on 16 August 1983. Woodentop became the forerunner to long-running British police television series The Bill, which went on air 14 months later and continued for 26 years. The name woodentop is a colloquialism for beat policemen who traditionally wear helmets; the nickname is itself an allusion to the Children's TV series The Woodentops.